That’s me, circa age four, standing in front of one of the tackiest looking Christmas trees on record. Yes, I’m wearing elastic jeans. Yes, I still have that haircut. Yes, I’m holding one of the Shirt Tales, and yes, I’m really that old.

I haven’t been the editor of With Leather very long, but around this time of year I turn into a Counting Crows-style winter mess and feel the need to emotionally spill myself on everyone. Saturday is Christmas Eve and Sunday is Christmas so we won’t be missing any updates, but this is my last chance to say how badly I want you to have a happy weekend (religion be damned) and how much I appreciate you sticking around with Zerkle left and you got stuck with a wordy pussy vegan as your sports guy. It means the world to me to get to do this, and it’s sorta my present every time I get up too early and get pissed when I’m not in your time zone.

Big Merry Christmas and/or other December-centric holiday wishes go out to Burnsy (who is so good at this it emasculates me on the reg … I absolutely could not do this without you), Brian and Jarret (for giving me a shot in the first place), Josh Z (for letting me fill your shoes), Matt Ufford (for being nice enough to say “hey, you should let this guy write here” when AOL fired everybody out of nowhere and I was gonna have to wait tables for a living again) and the rest of the UPROXX family. I’ve had the honor of writing at UPROXX.com, Warming Glow and Gamma Squad in addition to WL this year and every turn has been the most fun.

And yeah, that’s enough of me. If you’re traveling this weekend, be safe. I need you to stay alive because I love you, and because I desperately need your page views. Merry Christmas, everybody.

Here’s to getting drunk in front of relatives, eating all kinds of things horrible for you, and opening a bunch of things you can go buy yourself.

But somewhere in there you remember the holiday is about family. And then the moment comes along each year when the holiday hits you and you remember what it was like to be a kid on Christmas. Sneaking downstairs to see the presents, waking your parents up while still dark, and tearing through wrapping paper to find something you’ve waited for all year and won’t put down all day.

Merry Christmas Brandon. All in all (although I don’t comment because by the time something funny pops into mind, you’ve posted two more articles), you’ve been solid and I don’t even like wrestling. That said, this is a tradition around Uproxx so: